"We like to say that we found the serial killer that's stalked mankind for 4,000 years," said Dr. Randall Thompson, attending cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, and lead author of the study.
The proof lies under the fine linen folds of mummies from ancient Egypt and Peru, the southwestern United States, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Scientists scanned 137 of them and found that more than one-third had definite or probable atherosclerosis.

Twenty-five of the 47 mummies had "definite disease," according to the study, while the other 22 had probable disease. And evidence of atherosclerosis was found in mummies representing all four geographic areas.

"It is intriguing," said Dr. Richard Becker, professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. "One could look at this and say this is not solely a disease of westernized civilizations. Atherosclerosis perhaps has been around for a long time."

Glowing white flecks of what appeared to be calcium showed up in the same places on CT scans - the aorta and the coronary and carotid arteries, for example - where it is found in people today. (Turns out that calcium does not decay; it stays lodged in the body for thousands of years.)

"These populations...had very different diets, very different lifestyles," said Thompson. "And there was a very wide span of history and wide geographic distribution. The disease was present and not hard to find."

That geographic and lifestyle diversity is key to this study.

Previously, Thompson and his colleagues found evidence of atherosclerosis in Egyptian mummies. The findings suggested that our modern, unhealthy lifestyle may not deserve full blame for atherosclerosis - after all, even ancient Egyptians had the disease.

"But after we reported our findings in ancient Egyptians we were criticized," said Thompson. "They were eating a diet that was rather rich and did not get much physical activity. They lived a lifestyle like ours, so it was not so surprising after all."

This most recent study found atherosclerosis in populations that subsisted on things like corn, squash, nuts, berries and fish - and were active - so our unhealthy, modern habits may play a lesser role in developing this disease than we think.

When the current crop of mummies was subjected to further analysis, calcium build up seemed to happen as a function of age, not diet and physical activity. But that does not mean that we modern people should ignore those other risk factors for atherosclerosis.

"If you have less control than you think you do, that's more reason to control what you can, like cholesterol, exercise and do things we know are healthy," said Thompson.

The problem, according to Thompson, is when patients feel weighed down by guilt because they can't control their diabetes or exercise enough.

"Some of that guilt is misplaced," said Thompson. "I think that some of the excessive focus on diet is oversold."

The Dr. that did my dads bypass said you can control 8-10% of the cause. The other 90% is genetics, so I am screwed. Even if I followed the best diets, did everything healthy, i will have artery issues. Same goes to anyone else with bad genes like me.

Did your mother have the same problem? You have no guarantee that you inherited those genes from your father. Even if both parents had those genes, I don't think it is established if they follow a simple Mendelian ineritance or not, so you STILL may not have those genes.

Actually there is a plural form of people, as in peoples. This article speaks of mummies from four separate peoples: The people of Egypt, the people of Peru, the people from the southwestern United States, and the people from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Since there are four distinct groups of people being emphasized in this article, the use of the plural form of people is appropriate, especially considering that this study's validity is based upon this diversity.

Peoples is perfectly correct. (Merriam Webster, definition #5). But I fully understand that the plural of the word is hard to grasp for a nation that obliterated an ethnic group that was already on that continent. Plural of people, nah we don't want that. We, the people, all want to be fat, watch ball games and drink Coca Cola and speak our specific version of English with deranged phonemes. Other people can't be people.

If more people donated their bodies to science we could learn too but many believe that is taboo . How can people learn if we have no bodies to learn from . I have no problem donating my body to science when I am gone . It does no good but food for the worms if not . And no there is no guarantee that your body will not be moved after burial . Just like the mummy in the scanner we could all be dug back up some day . We are the human mammal nothing more nothing less ! Type in the human mammal at your favorite search engine . Thats how we all learn today !

I wonder why they over focused on the role calcium while ignoring the key role of cholesterol. From where I stand, the root cause of atherosclerosis is obviously cholesterol. In fact, when calcium in your body is so high, it just slightly affects your arteries but not at the same way cholesterol does.

As someone who did a research paper on this exact topic with regards to both the disease and the mummies, there is one glaring oversight in this piece. Those that were mummified in the past generally were the 1% of their time and had access to a diet that included meat, whereas most of the peasant class were forced to eat a vegetarian diet.

Our modern MEAT eating diet may indeed play a role and the meat eating mummies may thank the cholesterol and fats from their diet. You are not "screwed" by your genes. Read Dr. Esselstyn's book Reversing Heart Disease to see there is plenty of evidence out there that you can in fact clear your arteries and avoid this disease by diet alone.

What other kinds of diseases did they discover that were common in their deaths back then? Was there any cancer discovered in any of the bodies back then? Or is cancer caused by more modern processed foods and chemicals? I think that would be a good study to see if our modern habits are responsible for so many health problems today.

You don't have to look back thousands of years to see population studies and cancer. Only a century or two ago, many isolated populations had 0 incidents of cancer (breast and others), heart disease and diabetes. After the introduction of Western diet (including sugar, flour), it only took a couple of decades for cancer to start cropping up. Within a generation or two, these previously isolated cultures were now on par with the rest of the Western population.

No, cancer is a very old disease actually. Paleontologists claim that cancer existed in dinosaurs. The reason you didn't hear much about it in history is because 1) they didn't know what it was when people had it, 2) people didn't live long enough and rather died of infectious disease (cancer is associated with age).

I'm surprised the article did not discuss the connection between gum health (periodontal disease) and heart disease. Certain disease-causing bacteria in the mouth enter through the gums in people with poor oral health, causing inflammation which narrows blood vessels. These mouth bacteria have been found in artery plaques. Flossing can extend life by years.

The main staple of the Egyptian diet was breads and cereal foods. They also ate high sugar foods such as grapes, dates, figs and honey. Their diet is probably fairly similar to the one the USDA now recommends, high in carbohydrate. No wonder there was such a high incidence of heart disease.

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Bacteria around teeth cause the destruction and foul odors in a person with gum disease, specifically sulfur-containing compounds. Bone is considered to be the foundation and supporting structure of teeth. Bacteria will make themselves at home in the spaces between teeth and release or exhibit compounds that the body's immune response leads to inflammation resulting in bone loss. As bacteria proliferate, the immune response increases and teeth will eventually become loose and either fall out on their own, or are extracted by a dentist. This process is not something that happens overnight.`..,..

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Vegetarianism can be adopted for different reasons. Many object to eating meat out of respect for sentient life. Such ethical motivations have been codified under various religious beliefs, along with the concept of animal rights. Other motivations for vegetarianism are health-related, political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic or economic.'.,^

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